Glasgow To Become UK’s First ‘Smart City,’ Will Include Facial Recognition-Enabled Surveillance Cameras

Glasgow, Scotland is slated to become the first “smart city” in the United Kingdom after receiving a £24 million grant from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) which will result in wonderful benefits like facial recognition for the city’s network of surveillance cameras.

Glasgow beat out 30 other cities in the UK to win the host what the TSB calls the “Future Cities Demonstrator.”

According to a TSB press release, “The Glasgow Future Cities Demonstrator aims to address some of the city’s most pressing energy and health needs. For example, developing systems to help tackle fuel poverty and to look at long-standing health issues such as low life expectancy.”

However, it is clear that one of the major focuses is “improved crime prevention [and] a reduction in anti-social behavior.”

Indeed, as a recent BBC article notes, “Better use of CCTV camera technology will feed back to control centers, with the aim of preventing and reducing anti-social behavior.”

The BBC also notes that the city’s CCTV cameras will be linked to the traffic management unit in order to identify traffic incidents more quickly.

“It will use analytical software and security cameras to help identify and prevent crime in the city,” the BBC adds.

The system will be capable of “[i]mproved crime prevention and detection of crime as well as helping to reduce anti-social behavior incidents through the improved use of camera technology and the integration of data” according to the Glasgow City Council website.

The interesting aspect of that is the fact that analytical software will be used along with cameras to help prevent crime. One can only assume that some kind of technology similar to the pre-crime systems – formally known as “behavior recognition” or “behavioral suspect detection” – deployed in America will be used.

Additionally, according to Councilor Gordon Matheson, the leader of Glasgow City Council, it will also be used for tax collection.

“By linking everything from foot and vehicle traffic to council tax collection and hospital waiting lists we can ensure we are being as innovative and smart to meet the continued challenges of a modern and future city life,” Matheson said.

According to the BBC, other cities in the UK including Birmingham, Sunderland and London will be deploying similar technology in the near future.

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Wendy Blanks is an independent researcher, journalist and activist. She is the Founder of TruWire Productions, LLC., and the Owner/Chief Editor for The Sleuth Journal. She has done investigative research in multiple fields and has a passion for sharing true news on various topics such as government corruption, natural health, human rights, globalism and other important issues that plague our society. Thankfully, we live in the age of information and sharing knowledge has become easier than ever. She has a deep desire to expose the truth in propagated information that is spewed from corporate/mainstream media. True journalism has been dead for some time and it is her goal to revive it. The Sleuth Journal streamlines groups of like-minded individuals and organizations to create a massive knowledge base for a ‘conscious awakening’ of what is really going on in today’s oligarchy pyramid that we call ‘society’. So many people are zombies by media, television and other means of mass brainwashing and we need to reverse the effects and give people back their minds, and in return, their power and will to change and challenge the system. Like The Sleuth Journal on Facebook. Follow The Sleuth Journal on Twitter. Join The Sleuth Journal group on Linkedin. Be sure to visit Drone Patrol to view and report drone sightings.